New Hague School art movement • artists • artworks for sale

New Hague School
In The Hague, the second important art center at the time, there was also much room for figurative tendencies in addition to abstraction. The most important artist collectives were Verve (1951-1957), De Posthoorn (1956-1962), Atol (1959-1962) and Fugare (1960-1967).

Verve, a company of mainly figurative artists, was founded in 1951. Kees Andréa, Herman Berserik, Theo Bitter, Jan van Heel, Co Westerik and Willem Schrofer were among others associated with it. In an introduction to one of their exhibitions (1956), the term "New Hague School" was used for the first time. De Posthoorn took its name from a café where, from 1949, on exhibitions were performed by experimental artists such as Jan Roëde, Jaap Nanninga, Willem Hussem, Lotti van der Gaag and Theo Bitter. In 1950 the neighboring building was converted into a gallery. The years 1956-1959 were the most successful. Atol only existed for a short time, until 1962, and had few members, some were previously associated with De Posthoorn. In 1960 the group Fugare was founded, with many former Verve members. Although the emphasis was more on abstraction and experiment than before, much was painted in the figurative tradition. The group consisted of ten painters, including Theo Bitter, Jan van Heel, Willem Hussem, Joop Kropff, Jaap Nanninga.

The Haags Gemeentemuseum organized eight exhibitions from 1947 to 1959 that served as a stage for this Hague avant-garde. The term 'New Hague School' was launched at one of those exhibitions.